Buy Dear Esther + Soundtrack

Recommended By Curators

About This Game

“A deserted island…a lost man…memories of a fatal crash…a book written by a dying explorer.”

Two years in the making, the highly anticipated Indie remake of the cult mod Dear Esther arrives on PC. Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: "Dear Esther..." - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years. Abandoning traditional gameplay for a pure story-driven experience, Dear Esther fuses its beautiful environments with a breathtaking soundtrack to tell a powerful story of love, loss, guilt and redemption.

Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it’s because it may just be all a delusion. What is the significance of the aerial -- What happened on the motorway -- is the island real or imagined -- who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here? The answers are out there, on the lost beach, the windswept cliffs and buried in the darkness of the tunnels beneath the island… Or then again, they may just not be, after all…

Dear Esther is supported by Indie Fund.

Key features:

Every play-through a unique experience, with randomly generated audio, visuals and events.

Explore Incredible environments that push the Source engine to new levels of beauty.

A poetic, semi-randomised story like you've never experienced in a game before.

Stunning soundtrack featuring world-class musicians.

An uncompromisingly inventive game delivered to the highest AAA standards.

Soundtrack

Jessica Curry's haunting and beautiful soundtrack to Dear Esther, now available on Steam, has been a hit with gamers and critics alike. Reviewers have said ""Curry's score reflects the player's feelings without oppressively instructing them. Exquisitely constructed, both sonically and visually" (Eurogamer), "as beautiful as the game is, it’d be remiss not to mention Curry’s atmospheric soundtrack...impossible to ignore." (Edge), "spellbinding, fascinating aural landscape: a resounding success" (Square Enix), "Curry's delicate & understated musical score achieves a level of excellence. It's the ultimate achievement of composition." (Bitgamer). The soundtrack was shortlisted for the Excellence in Audio award at the Independent Games Festival 2012

There is little story, and even less gameplay. You're mostly railroaded along a path, where you will hear and see things. The world is visually appealing, and the voice work is wonderful, but the overall mood may or may not appeal to you.

Like any purely artistic work, it either speaks to you or it falls flat. Personally, it's not my cup of tea, but it might be yours.

Up till five years ago, discussions about games as a form of art, were largely considered as non-important. There was a more or less clear distinction between the "higher" arts, and the more "commercial" games, although many of those used elements from several arts (in-game music, often symphonic and with a classical feel to it, being just one example). With the rise of the Indie game-scene around 2010, things started to evolve fast. Since indie-developers are not bound by contracts to large (and indeed often very commercial) publishers, they found themselves in a position where experimenting with the medium of games itself turned into something viable.

One of the almost immediate consequences of this huge shift in focus, was the rise of what many have called since then "artistic games": games as the newest form of art, following in the footsteps of literature, music, architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, cinematography and the likes. This idea has generated some debate during the last five years, but it's still an underrated aspect of gaming. The one game that really stands out as maybe thé flagship of the artistic games, would surely be Dear Esther. Released in February 2012 by the small indie-company The Chinese Room, it made a huge impact on the gaming scene by the radical way in which it changes the entire concept of what a computer game is all about.

In this game there are no "goals" the player has to achieve, there is no such thing as "winning or losing", there is not even the possibility of playing well or badly, or of interacting with the environment. Actually, the gameplay is extremely limited: the player can only walk around on an abandoned island in the Scottish Hebrides in first-person view, with no running, jumping, climbing or crouching as in most first-person games. This immediately gives the game a very leisured pace, which may not be to the liking of everyone. Dear Esther has even been called a "walking simulator" - it's the most prominent of its tags on the Steam store at the moment. But it's nothing like that, in my opinion. Thsi game is not about the physical walk around the - extremely impressive and atmospheric - island. Dear Esther tells another kind of story: a story that happens within the main character, and one that is told with such emotional force that I as a player not only identified myself with the character, but also started to actually FEEL like he does. Now that's a rare experience in any game up till now: the feeling that the entire game, with all its components (visuals, story, music in this case) got under my skin in such a way that I got emotionally involved to a very, very large extent. I won't spoil anything from the story, but it's nothing light-weight to be sure and the game has stayed with me since I first played it three weeks ago.

And there is not really much more to say about this amazing, almost genre-defining piece of art. Actually, the debate may not be if it's a piece of art (most will agree to that), but to whether it's a game or not. To my opinion, it's certainly both, and as such stands proud as one of the prime examples of artistic games that give as rich and rewarding an experience as reading a novel by Daphne du Maurier, looking at a painting by Turner or listening to a sonata by Mozart. But be advised: this gem calls for your complete attention, so headphones and a dark environment are recommended. Especially so since the soundscape the game provides, be it from the howling of the wind to the eerie, haunting music by Jessica Curry, deserves every inch of attention.

Dear Esther is the kind of video game which is doomed to be criticized. The reason is gameplay for you only do three things: walk, listen and watch. Formula like this can encouraged a decent number of people to confer a title of Walking Simulator - 2012 on this adventure game from the young British developer The Chinese Room , who previously worked on the atmospheric Half-Life 2 mod Korsakovia. But at this point gamers of all ages should ask themselves a question: do they need another rank-and-file FPS on already flooded modern VG market or are they open for innovative ideas and blending of various kinds of art?

Dear Esther originated from a Source engine mod of the same name made by The Chinese Room in 2008. In this completely reworked standalone only WASD and a mouse are required to play (get your left-hand middle finger ready). Taking into consideration this fact, if Dear Esther was the first video game ever made by man, the industry would have been slightly different... However, alternate history theories aside, DE is to be considered as an unusual experiment, which strays from traditional principles of electronic entertainment. Gameplay is stripped of some now widespread features: interactive objects, logs, and puzzles. It takes away the fun in a traditional sense of the word though it may be all this have been sacrificed for the sake of storytelling and getting more engaging and emotion-focused experience.

The storyline is one of the strongest points of the title. Presented in a form of an audio messages, it tells about the man who lives (lived?) as a hermit on an island in the Hebrides - an archipelago just off the coast of Scotland. He wrote a letter to Esther, supposedly his wife, and messages you hear exploring as an unnamed silent protagonist are clippings from this writing. They appear when you reach certain spots of four different locations. This feature adds some replay value to a mature, if rather short journey as one can discover new pieces of the story should he visit places he missed in the next play-through. Writing is top-notch, the narrator is brilliant and reminds of the great Richard Burton, who lent his voice for Jeff Wayne's 1978 epic rock opera War of the Worlds. The story raises some major existential questions, leaves room for interpretation, and overall feels like it has been inspired by H.P. Lovecraft works.

Dear Esther looks and sounds gorgeous. It is not about photo-realistic visuals but about crafty game of light and dark, sounds, colors, and shapes. The island feels alive: grass sways, water flows, caves breathe and glimmer. The result: the most impressive landscapes which are competing in one league with Dead Space franchise and Skyrim. Sound design is faithfully backing it all up as everything - from chilly wind to distant ship horns - sounds naturally yet somehow unusual, out of this world. Combined with serene, at times dreadful music by Jessica Curry, it makes a huge impact, immersing one into the atmosphere.

Giving the game credit where credit's due, it is more than just a bold experiment. Dear Esther is an indie title which shows that gaming has grown up and is not just about mashing buttons and shooting galleries anymore. It offers no challenge but challenges your mind. It doesn't pull of any tricks but occupies it's own niche and broadens the boundaries of PC gaming, thereby bringing rage upon itself. For $10 you get 2 hours of sheer aesthetic joy on your PC. Only if your slogan is "No gameplay, no game", there is nothing for you here and there will never be.

Negatives:- Doesn't really feel like a game. The only controls are to turn and move forward, with a zoom feature I never needed to use. There's no interaction at all, you just walk along a mostly railroaded path, with occasional snippets breaking in to tell the story- The story is somewhat convoluted, and while it makes you think a bit, it didn't really hold my interest enough- It's extremely short, I finished the game/story in just over an hour

Comments:The graphics, scenery and sound track are excellent, but I just didn't really enjoy this "game". The lack of any real interaction meant the story would have had to be incredible to really hold my interest, and I didn't find it to be so. That, plus it being incredibly short, mean I can't really recommend Dear Esther.

This game is a gamble. You'll either have a near-life changing emotional experience and come out a changed person, or... you will be bored witless on an otherwise pretty walk on an island. I fell in the latter group unfortunately, and I cannot recommend this game.

Absolutely mesmerizing storytelling, with the tone of a masterfully penned novella and music that bears the weight of endless sorrow. An island that feels more like a character than a place. The only choice you have is to keep advancing or stop playing.Dear Esther manages to be a profound and unique experience, even though it consists solely of walking through a virtual environment and listening to a man slowly lose his sanity for a little over an hour. I've replayed it many times and loved it more each time, while still feeling like I hadn't understood all it had to offer. Whether you consider it a game or not, Dear Esther is certainly a work of art.

It's a pretty game, but that's about all the nice things I can say about it.

There's no real "exploration" when you're almost totally on one path to the end. So a game that took the creators 2 years takes about 2 hours to complete. Only changes that could justify another playthru is dialog changes at certain points. But the story doesn't seem to matter, because there's limited connection between what you're doing and the narration.

The only real mystery is WHO BOUGHT ALL THESE FREAKIN' YANKEE CANDLES?!

Considering this game is often on sale for dirt-cheap (and included in many humble bundles) it might be worth checking out if you're a fan of atmospheric walking simulator games. However, there are two things I wish I had known going into this title:1). As many have stated in the reviews, it is art not a game. The only thing you control is movement. There are no puzzles and there is no challenge whatsoever. Because of the limited controls, this leads to my second major problem with the game.2). It can be agonizingly slow and tedious. I understand thechineseroom's decision not to include a sprint button, as this game is quite short and it would feel out of place. However, a simple fastwalk button (or making Esther walk faster than a drunk snail) would have helped tremendously. At several points in the game, you find yourself at one end of a HUGE plain or cliff that you must traverse to the other. You will also make many wrong turns and have to turn around and re-tread these massive terrains. The game requires a lot of patience and, unfortunately, it fails to deliver.

This game does succeed in its gorgeous visuals (easily the selling-point, oddly enough) and the conventional British narrator. It also has a very open-ended conclusion if that's your sort of thing. But ultimately I find it difficult to recommend Dear Esther as a good game, if it's even a game at all. While I'm not bitter about the dollar I probably spent on this title through a humble bundle, I still want my hour and a half back.

Interesting experince and a different approach to a story driven game but due to its lack of any interactions and just walking with narration, I cant recommend it for a $10 price tag. I only played through it one time and I've heard that multiple run throughs can bring up some various changes in narration but that doesnt drive me to want to play again. There also was not any payoff at the end, it was far to open ended and didnt seem to have a point. It does look great and the audio is wonderful. Pick it up on a discount.

I loaded up Dear Esther on my computer with high expectations. I'm a new gamer and have an arts background, so I have enjoyed exploring some of the indie games instead of the usual gun-blazing brain-blasters that seem to be so popular. I had just finished playing Gone Home and really enjoyed it. From the reviews I had read, Dear Esther was supposed to be an even better narrative-driven game. It wasn't.

When I realized you can't DO anything -- no object engagement, swimming, or overcoming the tiniest of obstacles -- I patiently explored the island, waiting for something to happen. About an hour and a half into the game I decided to give up for the day, feeling like I'd seen a lot of stunningly beautiful landscapes, but that's about it. When I reloaded the game on another day, I discoverd I was forced to start from the beginning, and there was no way I was spending another hour and a half of walking an island with nothing happening just to get through the last of the dull storyline.

I'm sure the story is great, though the metaphorical and lyrical language that guides the game was pushed too far and comes off a bit pompous-sounding. They tried too hard to be brilliant with this one, and it comes off as unnatural and forced. Skip it.

I love this game.Why? Cause it's unusual. It's not like any other exploration/adventure game i've seen on steam.You can compare it to book with missing pages and those pages that you have are not in order.It was so beautiful in term of visual appearance and atmosphere back in 2012.

Dont buy if you are looking for any kind of action and can't spend few hours just walking around this island, slowly unfolding story.

When I first saw this game I was astonished by it's scenography and bought it immediately, and I didn't make a mistake!

Graphics 8/10Scenography and graphics are gorgeous in this game, it's a rather a piece of art, then just what we are used to see. There's some problems with edges (for example: rocks), but those are small things which won't ruin your experience in this game.

Sound 8/10The music is very relaxing, you can really set your mind free while listening to it, it's oftenly followed by amazing voice acting, which reminds me of one in "The Stanley's Parable".

Gameplay 4/10There isn't much gameplay here, you just walk around and do some sightseeing without interaction with your environment at all. I don't find it interesting to just walk around, but I guess everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

Story 6/10The story is pretty short, you can complete it under 2 hours, which is a shame. To be honest, I don't have much to say about it, except that I didn't like it very much, they could write a better story.

Overall experience 7/10It's a great little game, and I have fun with it, though the story is a little bit short. Everyone should try this game without any doubt.

Well, I finally got around to playing this after years of languishing in my backlog (3 years I think?). Initially, I didnt play it because my computer couldnt handle it and it kept freezing. However, I realized that since I had upgraded my GCU, there was no reason not to, and on maxed out settings no less.

The game is in a word: BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, this might be one of the best looking games if not THE best looking game ever. It's probably a bit messed up, but I kept thinking that this is how Skyrim should have looked (not that Skyrim looked bad). Anyway, I digress. This is actual a mostly linear exploration game, where the story is revealed as you check out locations.

The story itself is the subject of much speculation and debate. One thing that is not debatable is that this isnt exactly a happy story being told, although possibly it has a hopeful ending depending on how you perceive the entirety of the story. I will give my take on that at the end of this review so it wont spoil the game for anybody who doesnt want to read it. It is told in narrative fashion.

The gameplay itself is simply you walking around, looking at stuff. You can zoom in, and that is exactly all your actual gameplay options.Keeps it pretty simple that way.

I mentioned the graphics before, but seriously, the attention to detail, even the minutia of a scene, is fairly well flawless. I can find zero fault with it whatsoever. You will be truly amazed with this aspect of the game in my opinion. There are some really jaw dropping images in this game. If you are curious, take a peak at the 140 or so screenshots I took, lol (but be wary of spoilers in them).

So, that is pretty much it. This game is perfection as far as walking simulator/exploration games go. I've seen nothing better yet. 10/10

Alright, now to the SPOILERS

It is my opinion that our protagonist is a ghost, revisitng his final days, his final regrets, and finally coming to terms with everything. I am of the opinion that, whether or not s/he was actually dead (the voice is male, but the reality of his gender is ambiguous at best), he was at the very least hallucinating and/or in a hospitalized, drug induced state of disorientation. His mind is clearly fractured and I think the people he references (himself, Jacobson, Esther Donnelly) are all parts of his own consciousness. The cause was obviously an auto wreck, although maybe this was just metaphor as well, and I coulnt help but think that he had lost a daughter, which was the source of his wrecked mind.

I dont know though. This story leaves a lot of your own subjective interpretation, which is actually another appealing aspect of this game

I really can't say I recommend it. This 'game' is not for everyone, it's far more an art piece than a game. It was an interesting experience, the graphics were lush and lovely, too. It looks like someone put a lot of love and time into this. A nice try at trying something new and different.

However, it just seemed like it needed more to do in it. It's a walking sim. You walk around an a path, and listen to narration... that's about it. If you expect more, prepare for disappointment. I really wanted to interact with the beautiful environment. You can look, but not touch. I played through it once, maybe I'll play it again some day, but I'm not so sure it has any replayability. I do recommend getting this on sale, but not at full price.

Dear Esther is a beautiful, touching, moving experience. It is as some have said, a work of art. As you move through the desolate island alone the story unfolds. The music is excellent too. This isn't a game. It is an experience. I hope that tells you enough to know if it would be for you. It took me a little under an hour and half to take this in. I know you can see my listed playtime but I just wanted to indicate that was how long it took from start to finish.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT GONE HOMO--THIS IS HOW YOU MAKE A WALKING SIMULATOR

For the first time since Metroid Prime I completely stopped for the sole purpose of absorbing the game's environment.

I paused, bathing and breathing deeply from the crisp, sobering seabreeze. I had traversed the shores of a beautiful coastline and earned the enjoyment of examining the island's breadth.

Dilapidated archetecture and magnificent natural formations decorate the island in a constant allegory comparing the shortcomings of human life and spirituality when pitted against the immortality of nature.